Timothy Mellon , 84, has sharply cut his political donations ahead of the midterm elections, especially to Senate Republicans. Mellon is a reclusive billionaire from Wyoming and the grandson of Gilded Age industrialist Andrew Mellon.
The main reason is the party’s failure to pass the SAVE America Act this summer. The bill was pushed hard by President Donald Trump .
The Senate Leadership Fund has raised nearly $80 million more than its Democratic counterpart. Other billionaires, including Miriam Adelson ($30 million) and Stephen Schwarzman ($17 million), have filled the gap. Because the bill failed, after he got a mailed fundraising letter, Mellon wrote back himself saying he would not donate.
The latest version also included ID rules for absentee ballots. The effort eventually failed.
The bill would place strict limits on voting by mail, introduce a nationwide voter ID requirement and require people to show proof of US citizenship when registering to vote, according to The New York Times. Senate Majority Leader John Thune supported the bill but said the “math” was not there to overcome a Democratic filibuster. In March, Thune said, “the votes aren’t there,” as per The Daily Beast . Mellon’s team has told other Republicans that this is why he is not backing Senate Republicans, according to the New York Times. A person close to the group said it never expected a check from Mellon this cycle, even before the bill failed.
